Yusuf Sidani does not just oversee the growth of executive education courses with a focus on geopolitics and conflict. He is also living and directly applying the lessons he teaches in his own institution as it adapts on the frontline.
As the dean of the Suliman S Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut, Prof Sidani believes he and his colleagues are well positioned to respond to rising demand among senior executives for understanding of “the geopolitical context, supply chain management [and] operations”.
“The best place to teach leadership in crisis is where we are,” he says. “In Lebanon, we’ve had our own challenges. For the past six years, we’ve been in multiple crises — financial, political and war,” he says. Teaching has continued in its Beirut campus throughout, despite nearby explosions. “For the most part, we hear the sounds. It’s part of our daily living.”